|
|
President's Message
“Despite cutbacks, firms invest in developing leaders,” read the headline in a Wall Street Journal article by Dana Mattioli on February 8. The subhead explained, “Companies renew focus on employee training, betting that strong managers will help through the recovery.”
The article went on to explain, “Companies historically cut leadership development programs during downturns, but the moves backfired.”
Identifying and grooming leaders is important in good times, senior vice president of consumer lifestyle for Philips Electronics North America Bret Furio told Mattioli. “In times of crisis when the company is struggling, it’s imperative.” Read the entire article here.
That’s a lesson we’ve long known to be true at the Lincoln Leadership Institute, where we are dedicated to serving as a resource for individuals, teams and organizations who find themselves having to perform or produce in a stressful and rapidly changing environment with limited resources and limited information.
If you and your employees have experienced our programs, click here to tell us how you’ve applied one of our leadership lessons in your life this month. If we’ve never had the pleasure of working with you — we hope to assist you in these incredibly tough economic times.
Warmly, Steven B. Wiley
As always, send your comments and ideas to our managing director, Angela Sontheimer, at angela@lincolnleadershipinstitute.com. |
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
February 12 Ribbon Cutting and Wills House Dedication a Hit
|
I was honored to speak at the luncheon prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony on February 12 when, on Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, we officially moved into our new offices in the historic David Wills House. This is the home where Lincoln slept the night before he gave the Gettysburg Address, and therefore where he put the finishing touches on his address.
I told the scores of people who attended the event how humbled my managing director Angela Sontheimer and I are to be working on the third floor of Wills House, for we are here to inspire Fortune 500 leaders. Lincoln once said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.”
I am resolved to see the Wills House Museum, and our wonderful Gettysburg, explode onto the national stage.
View the February 19 report by Sabrina Bosse, ACTV Update, on the Main Street Gettysburg luncheon here.
Watch the entire ribbon cutting ceremony here. |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Celebrating Lincoln, and our New Digs, in Style
 Main Street Gettysburg spent nearly four years renovating the David Wills House before we had the privilege of moving into our new offices, and we wanted to honor the building and the work we do here.
We couldn’t think of a better way to accomplish both of those goals than to hire artists to create a larger-than-life bust to adorn the grand entrance of the company’s headquarters.
Bruce Trott, founder of Foam Depot in Alpharetta, GA, and his team spent about 80 man-hours creating the Lincoln likeness out of two large chunks of expanded polystyrene, a commercial-grade Styrofoam-like Lincoln that stands 7 feet, 6 inches tall and 10 feet wide.
The bust “really provided that wow factor” to the renovated Wills House, said Doug Gardner, marketing director for Pennsylvania-based Graphcom, who installed the bust after it arrived in pieces last week. We couldn’t agree more.
Read the entire article by reporter Chandler Brown, which ran on February 12 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, here. |
Communicate with Executive Presence — watch our new YouTube video
 We have it on good authority that when adults learn emotionally and intellectually, the lessons stay with them forever. We could talk about Abraham Lincoln and his thoughts on leadership, and we could tell you about his ability to engage those around him through executive presence. But we think it best to have this information come directly from Abe Lincoln himself (actually, he’s Jim Getty, the Lincoln Leadership Institute’s Lincoln expert). Following is our interview with the 16th President of the United States.
Steven B. Wiley: At the Lincoln Leadership Institute, one of our programs is communicating with executive presence, and you are our model. We talk and try to help executives from across the country and around the world engage those around them in such a way that they'll never, ever be forgotten. We came up with five tenets of executive presence, and you exemplify all of them. I'd like to chat with you about your examples of these five tenets of executive presence. We feel it's very important to be brief. No one wants to hear us go on and on and on.
Jim Getty as Abe Lincoln: As a lawyer, I can tell you that conciseness is an important matter. I tried to bring all the points together that the jury could grasp, and knew not to drag it out. Get it over with. Be concise. I didn't always have that, but I grew into it.
Wiley: So we should understand that it's not about us, it's about our audience. Ultimately, we should know the audience.
Lincoln: Yes. I knew that part of the people I would be speaking to would have to be persuaded. I would know that somewhere in my camp, whether it was a cabinet meeting or a political meeting, or just working with the jury back in the courtroom. But what you didn't know was what the intelligence level of that jury that had been chosen, and not to talk over their heads. Don't use a four-syllable word when a two-syllable word will do.
Wiley: We feel strongly that story telling is more effective than just regurgitating information. The use of humor is also very appropriate.
Lincoln: Well, I used to tell stories just to kind of, out on the frontier, whistle down sadness. There were many sad times on the farm — family tragedies, many things that would bring about sorrow to the whole community. I figured that perhaps a little rejuvenating with a story would be good medicine for people. I could tell stories to people – some of them were made up on the spot. People that would come to me at the White House, and they would want a favor for a person; if not themselves, a relative. And I couldn't give all those favors. In saying no, I would try to leave them with a little story so when they walked down the hall from me, they're shaking their heads and they are also kind of smiling because they've heard something humorous. This approach can have healing qualities.
Wiley: Another important tactic is to be authentic.
Lincoln: Most definitely. If people think that you don't stand like a rock instead of swimming with the current, a difference can be made. The current might take you in different directions, so you have to stand like a rock.
View the video now. |
|
|
|
|
| |
Steve’s Upcoming Speaking Engagements
|
Join us on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 for special presentation of High Performance Negotiation: From the Battlefield to the Boardroom at The Brown Palace in Denver, CO from 8 am to 4 pm.
The ability to negotiate effectively is a key to professional and personal success. Good negotiators get what they want — quick, easy, and most importantly, more often. Each and every employee is a negotiator. Whether we’re making a sales presentation, closing a contract, leading a sales district or region, asking (or being asked) for a raise, making a sales presentation, buying a car, establishing performance criteria, setting a schedule, correcting a coworker — we’re constantly negotiating.
In fact, almost all of our dealings with others call for some sort of negotiation. The lack of satisfactory negotiating skills can quickly lead to loss of a sale, reduced access to customers, management challenges, reduced profits, unnecessary legal disputes, increased costs, delays, inefficiencies, misunderstandings and, in general, a significant reduction in an organization’s effectiveness. It’s no accident that good negotiators are more successful – consistently – in their professional and personal lives. And they give their fortunate employers a real advantage in today’s fiercely competitive business environment.
In concert with Dan Meyer and Lloyd Gottman, we invite you to join us for a special full-day session focusing on high performance negotiation skills. Normally $895 per attendee, this session is underwritten and made available to you and your guests for $495 for the first attendee, $395 for the second and $295 for three or more attendees from the same company. The fee includes breakfast, breaks, lunch, and materials.
If this session does not return ten times your investment in the next 30 days we will refund your fees. This special pricing is limited to the first 50 attendees. Register by email: angela@lincolnleadershipinstitute.com.
Schedule:
- 8:00-8:30 - Breakfast
- 8:30-9:00 - Introduction to High Performance Negotiation
- 9:00-10:30 - Large group Negotiation
- 10:30-10:45 - Break
- 10:45-12:00 - The Seven Critical Rules of Negotiation
- 12:00-1:00 - Lunch
- 1:00-2:15 - One-on-One Individualized Negotiation
- 2:15-2:30 - Break
- 2:30-3:30 - Customized Negotiation
- 3:30 - Closing Remarks
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2009, The Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg |
|
|
